Improvement in sheep-racks



No. 51,869. vI atented- Jany 2, 1866.

UNITED STATES PATENT EEICEo HENRY SEEVERS, OF PERRY TOWNSHIP, GOSHOOTON COUNTY, OHIO.

IMPROVEMENT iN SHEEP-RACKS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 5L69, dated January 2, 1866.

in which- Figure l represents it, in perspective, empty, and Fig. 2 represents it, also in perspective, filled and ready for feeding.

Letter a, three sills three inches square and twenty-eight inches long, with a board twentytwo inches wide nailed fast to the sills and making the bottom of the box.

Letter b, a post two inches square and twenty-six inches long tenoned into the middle sill, with a board ten inches wide nailed fast to the inside of the post, making one side of the box; the other side the same.

Letter c, two posts, same size as letter b, with a board ten inches wide and twenty-six inches long nailed fast to the outside of the two posts, which are tenoned into one of the end sills,l making one end of the box; the other end the same.

Letter d, rack, made by putting cross-pieces to two side rails, cross-pieces placed live or six inches apart, rack made of proper size to play loose inside the box.

Letter f, a feed-trough five inches wide inside in the bottom, side pieces two and onehalf inches deep on the inside, Haring, so as to make the trough seven inches wide at top, with an iron arm fastened under the bottom at each end of the trough, and rising from the bottom at such-an angle as will meet the corner posts on one side at a proper heighth to work as a hinge either upon a bolt through the posts or upon the ends of the arms turned at right angles and let into the posts, and to allow the trough, when thrown up, to rise above the top of the posts, resting the arms against a top railing of the posts 5 also, theiron arms to be of proper length to let thetrough rest on cleats nailed to the inside of the end boards of the box, two inches below thetop of said boards,

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and so be over the center of the box and rack when down and in place for feeding grain.

Letter g, a top railing let into the top of the posts, with the bottom of the railing nine inches above the top of the box.

The manner of using the said improved boxrack and feed-trough combined for feeding sheep, in feeding hay, may be either with the trough up or down, but better up. When the box is to be lled with hay the feed-trough is thrown up, the rack is raised on either side rail and placed against either side of the box. The hay is then putin, the rack is then turned down on top of the hay, and with its own weight holds the hay nicely down. The sheep then come up and feed on all sides, the rack holding the hay nicely down and only allowing the sheep to get their mouths between the cross-pieces, and as they eat the rack settles down upon the hay until it is used out, holding the last mouthful as nicely as the Whole when first put in, thus preventing any waste of hay whatever.

'Ihe manner of feeding oats in the sheaf is just the same as hay, and what is shelled off, being in the box, is not lost but gotten by the sheep to the last grain, when the straw is used up and the rack settles down to the bottom.

The manner of using it for feeding grain, either ground or unground, is, either when the box is full of hay or empty, to let down the feed-trough, which will then rest on the rack and hay when full, and on the cleats when empty, and the grain being put into the trough the sheep approach upon all sides and eat in the same manner as when feeding at hay, and if any of the grain is pushed over the sides of the trough it is not lost, but falls into the box, and in due time the sheep get it.

In feeding roots they can be put into the trough sliced or whole; or if the roots are very large the trough can be thrown up and they can be put into the box with the rack over them and fed the same as hay.

For cleaning: Every time the trough is thrown up it cleans itself and throws all dirtoutside the box. When the box is to be cleaned the rack, being loose, is lifted entirely out, and there is nothing in the way of cleaning.4 But one great advantage ofthe improvement, next to the saving of feed, consists in its keeping clean, owing to the impossibility of the sheep dirtyiug it, either with their feet or otherwise, the outside line of the railing round. the top of the posts being three inches farther out than perpendicular line of the inside of the box, so fending off all approaches of the sheep except to feed.

What I claim as my idea, invention, and i111- provement, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

The sldin g rack and the grain-trough, so

hinged and arranged as to allow the sheep to feed upon either grain or hay and stand upon the same ground, Without having trough or rack at any time to interfere with eaeh other, and so easily moved to one side when the box is to be filled with hay.

HENRY SEEVERS.

Witnesses:

T. S. HUMRIOKHOUSE, W. R. FORKER. 

